It sounds like you may have a Crookneck or Limberneck problem, possibly combined with mites (which are opportunistic little buggers). Usually Crookneck is caused by either a blow to the head or by Botulism, which is a disease caused by a bird ingesting the toxins given off by a bacteria--the diease itself is NOT bacterial in nature, though, so antibiotics don't help unless there is another secondary infection. This time of year is a bad time for mold, which can in turn cause Botulism. The warm, wet conditions make molds grow like fiends and it is very hard to get rid of them. The molds can be either in your coop or in your feed--make SURE your feed is fresh and dry, if it looks or smells moldy/musty, throw it out. Be careful, Botulism is very harmful to humans as well. There is a great site by MSU here, with tons of poultry info: http://www.poultry.msstate.edu/extension/ Once there, click on 'Diseases and Pests of Poultry', a new drop-down menu will open up, then click on 'Poultry Diseases Based on Symptoms' and read that to narrow down what is going on. Also read 'Aid to Diagnosing Poultry Diseases and COnditions'. The blue links in the 'Aid' pages don't work, though, so read it for it's help in narrowing things down, then go to the 'Diseases' link to read up on the particular disease you suspect. I would isolate the sick bird and keep her warm and quiet. Sometimes if you treat the Limberneck issue, the bird can eat and drink on it's own again and recover. I've copied below the treatment: Crookneck/Limberneck In Birds Symptoms range from inability to hold up head and kind of it twisting backward thru full convulsion. Another is that their legs won't hold up their bodies. Here is my theory and therapy for what some call "limber neck" and I call crookneck. The symptoms first show as a crook in the neck. It progresses to tucking the head, then tucking the head between the legs, then backing up, and tumbling over, sometimes a drunken stagger as the bird has obvious trouble with keeping its balance. The youngsters will make a distressed peeping. It usually hits young birds but can happen at any age. It is unclear what causes crookneck. American Silkie Bantam Club members suggest water on the brain, vitamin E deficiency, and injury to the brain that is outside the skull and forms the knob on the top of Silkie's heads. Thanks to humans breeding for bigger and better crests for show, Silkies and other crested breeds, such as Polish, actually have a hole in the top of their skulls through which part of their brains protrude, leaving them more susceptible to the typical chicken flock aggression movea peck to the top of the head. The injury results in swelling of the brain which puts pressure on it, resulting in the loss of balance. Water on the brain was seen in a necropsy of an affected bird. Prednisone was suggested as symptomatic relief. Vitamin E and B complex are both good for neurological disorders. Selenium helps absorb vitamin E. Since prednisone is prescription-only, most people have to make do with what they can get at the grocery or drug store, which is the treatment below. It is important to be sure the bird gets enough to eat and drink while it has this problem. Birds with severe cases of crookneck can't eat and drink enough to survive. You will need to gently place their head in the feed dish and carefully dip just the tip of the beak in water. Be careful not to dip too far into the water, and to not stress the bird while trying to help. Daily Dosage: 400 IU of vitamin E (one human capsule) Selenium 50 micrograms (You may have to get a larger tablet and cut it in half or quarters) Crush the Selenium into a fine powder. Take the Vitamin E capsules a poke a hole in one end with a pin, then squeeze the liquid out into a tiny dish. Mix the powdered Seleium into the Vitamin E liquid using a wooden matchstick or something similar. Hold the chick in one hand, with the other scoop up a small amount of the mixture, pry open the chicks beak and place the mix inside the chicks beak, allowing it to swallow it on its own. Feed the chick the entire mixture. Do this once a day for 7 days. This isn't an injury that heals rapidly. It takes medication and TIME. Results aren't instantaneous, but this treatment DOES work. ****************************** Now: in addition, your bird may have an outbreak of mites. A lot of birds living outdoors already have mites, but are able to keep them under control by routine preening and dustbathing, and by being healthy. The minute a bird gets sick though, the mite population EXPLODES, overwhelming the already sick bird and so draining it of blood that it gets anemic and further weakened. Symptoms are letheragy, pale combs/wattles. Check the based of the feather shafts for grayish dust clinging to the base of the feathers where they meet the skin, and look for crawling bugs to size of a sharp pencil point. Mites especially like the fluffy areas--above and below vents, in between legs and crests on crested birds. You can buy sprays or dust at most feed stores. I prefer Adams Flea & Tick mist, you can get it at virtually any pet store. Get the one with IGR (Insect Growth Regulator), it not only kills adult mites but eggs as well, and keeps working for three months. You can also dust the bird with Sevin, a parasite dust for the garden made by Ortho, get it at home & garden centers. Both of these are poison, be careful. If you suspect mites, treat NOW. Mites can quickly kill. Unflavored Pedialyte (at the grocery store in the baby aisle) can really help boost electrolytes in sick birds, so give it in place of water. Good luck! Velvet ~:>

Basically, Winter was Winter. We loved her as she was--quite seemingly dumb. This dumbness lead to many funny things, and a couple of dangerous ones. She was well--but different--the whole time we had her. Each hen has her own personality, and Winter was crabby toward the other hens. We don't cull because someone doesn't play well. Her body was very healthy the whole time we had her--up until the end. Because of the danger the "dumbness" got her into, we always expected her to be the next to go. She never was. We got most of our chickens as other people's cast-offs: old. Our flock is mostly 5-6 year olds. They were going to be food, but we took them and are allowing them to enjoy the rest of their existence. Winter was a little "stiff" in the mornings as old folks often are. I believe she was older than the other chickens, but she was not given to me directly by the people who had her. I have an Amish pen-pal, and wrote quite a lot about Winter in my letters questioning if it was age. My friend said it sounded most like she was quite old. I also checked with other chicken people, and researched in many books about her stiff gait in the morning. I figured it was stiffness because she wasn't like that all day--she had to warm up some. Our farmer neighbor thought she may be visually impaired because she had difficulty finding her way in at night. We had a couple of hens that liked to stay out late. Winter was the only one who had difficulty with orientation after dusk. She was well for 2 years. The last week and a half, there was a "change in status". She seemed tired. I watched her for a few of days like that, and she didn't deteriorate as such. One morning, another chicken went after her at the food trough, and she didn't look good to me that morning. I brought her inside, and started nursing her. She had 9-lives, so I figured I should feed her and try to bring her around. She rallied after a couple of days: standing up, eating, and pooping just right. She filled her crop up and everything. Great! I assumed she was on the mend, and we beat it. After a couple/few days of improvement, she took a turn, and I gave her a day to see if she would rally again. After a day like that (twirling, and responding to outside stimuli as if she were falling), I knew she was done. The farmer was unavailable that day, and took care of it the next. Time line: 2 years good. Some time as a stiff ol' girl that went away as the day passed, and a week and a half in "hospital" in my home. I am sorry I was unclear when I first posted, but I was so depressed my writing was confusing--I'll admit that. Having had 2 head injuries in my family, she seemed like something was wrong in the hind brain. I know that cannot be fixed, so we let her live her life as long as she got herself up, and ate, we didn't mind helping an ol' girl down out of her box each morning. She enjoyed being held and her time inside where it was warm. She never laid many eggs, and this summer it was only a couple--I think she was maybe 8 years old or something. I can say with confidence that it wasn't an organism. Nobody else has it, and it did not track as an invading organism. Also, had I continued to feed her--even in her dizzy state, I believe her body would have gone on, and on. She was physically sound. Her brain was out of order. Looking back, her stiffness may have been the beginnings of brain deterioration. Had a vet told me her brain was going months earlier, and said that she was otherwise sound, I still would have let her live as long as she was her crabby & dumb self. That was her "status". We use the dumb as a term of endearment believe it or not--that is why we can say it was amusing. I still would have let her live until such a time that the twirling came a long and her mind seemed completely gone. My time line may be of a day in either direction, but there was no cruelty or neglect. Our chickens are spoiled. Their house rarely even has an odor. Some of them step out of the flock and come to us when we call them by name. I do appreciate the input here that attempts to help find answers. I was wondering if this is something that occurs in chickens, or was specific to Winter either through stroke, injury, or old age. It would be nice if "exotic pets" covered chickens. It seems more to mean "tropical pets" rather than pets other than cats & dogs, and maybe the occasional bunny. As birds go, chickens are hardy, and you can work with them TO A POINT. Birds have a far more delicate constitution than dogs or cats, and (hyperbole here) if you look at them cross-eyed they can drop dead. If there were vets who would investigate chickens as pets, I believe the books on chickens would be much better. I hope everyone has a Happy New Year, and had a great Christmas. Robin

Hey Kathy - here is something that may take your ? away from autoimmune: is the failure of an organism to recognize its own constituent parts as self, which results in an immune response against its own cells and tissues. Any disease that results from such an aberrant immune response is termed an autoimmune disease. Prominent examples include Coeliac disease, diabetes mellitus type 1 (IDDM), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), Sjögren's syndrome, Churg-Strauss Syndrome, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, Graves' disease, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). See List of autoimmune diseases. I know that that's a lot multi-syllabic words, but basically, it is the body attacking itself, due to the inborn lack of ability to recognize it's own DNA. It is sorta like you kill your son when he comes in your home, cause you don't recognize him. Very sad, very scary. Hope you know I don't think you'd do that, but it is the best way I can explain how Be-Be's own body is attacking itself. ((((Hugs and purrs)))))) Nancy, Midnight, Nicademus, Sylvester and Ozzie!!!

Carol, you are such a Precious Rose of a lady! and just like the young girl in the video you are living in the NOW, what courage and bravery! I will be keeping tons of prayers for you and also Karen's Ray who is at Stage 3b cancer. Ray is now undergoing another operation to stop fluids from leaking all over his lungs. Both you and Karen need tons of hugs right now! Yes, I can understand ABSOLUTELY about the eyes and the fear of blindness. That would be an artist's absolute nightmare. So much identity, our whole life's vocation and work is based on our eyesight. And a gardener is Nature's artist as well (smiley face). Carol, I took a photo this morning of my young Climbing America as thoughts for you, Karen and Ray. Of course we got plastered with rains again (same-old, same-old), but I got a break between the drenches, so to speak. I wanted to get better photos especially knowing what a gorgeous thread Boxo had already compiled so I worry about about adding my lopsided Lumps. But Boxo is such a sweetie, and I'm sure he'd smile and say, it's the thought that counts, KG! Hehe, well, let's say pretend that these lopsided cabbages, are Boxo's Abraham D'Arby wish-they-weres, hee-hee! Jim too sends his prayers, Carol!